Note To News.com.au: The Morning After Pill Isn’t An Anti-Depressant

Gotta love a bit of braindead photo editing in a major news source: today’s news.com.au (and, presumably, its accompanying News Ltd papers) have run a story regarding the latest study by Women’s Health Australia that has suggested depression (and the accompanying use of anti-depressants) is “rife” amongst Australia’s young women. It’s a concerning trend; as the piece notes:

The search for answers in prescription medicines has had young women making about seven claims for anti-depressants a year against the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and spending $113 a year out of their own pockets on treatment.

They reported higher rates of depression (18 per cent) than women aged 53 to 58 (13 per cent) and those aged 79 to 84 (10 per cent).

So what do the champs at news.com.au (not known for its particularly shining feminist credentials when it comes to reporting on women’s health, reproductive rights and/or issues of choice) do with the story? Well, everyone knows stories are boring unless they have pretty pictures, so they trundle over to AP to grab a shot of some “pills” (because, you know, anti-depressants = pill popping, or something):

Seriously, it’d be a stretch to suggest that someone in the news.com.au photo room is trying to subliminally imply that women are depressed because they’re sleeping around and using emergency contraception, but feminist conspiracy theories aside – is it too much to ask for a bit of care in both reporting and illustrating of stories, particularly when the issues they are illustrating are a cause for concern? Oh, you know, I guess it’s just chicks’ news – no one will notice!

Spot on, Clem… imagine a story about male depression, with the image of a viagra pill next to it. No way! At some stage in the photo/story editing process (probably at image selection, really) would notice. And change it. But with this article, who cares…